Garry Michael Monahan (born October 20, 1946) is a Canadian former professional hockey player who played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League. He was the first-ever draft pick in NHL history.

Career

Monahan was selected first overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the

1963 NHL Amateur Draft The 1963 NHL Amateur Draft was the first NHL Entry Draft. It was a draft to assign unaffiliated amateur junior-age players to NHL teams. It was held on June 5 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. It was the first amateur draft, which ...

of 16-year-old players—the first pick of the NHL's first draft. The next season, he played junior B hockey with the

St. Michael's Buzzers The St. Michael's Buzzers are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They compete in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL). History The St. Michael's Buzzers date back to at least 1920, as future NHLer Bobby Bauer had ma ...

in Toronto before moving up to the junior A Peterborough Petes in the

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the Province of Ontario. The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey As ...

, where he played from 1964 to 1967. In his final junior year, he turned into a top scorer playing on a line with Mickey Redmond, the league's leading goal scorer. Monahan scored 30 goals and 84 points in 47 games on what was otherwise a weak Petes team.

Montreal Canadiens

He made his NHL debut with the Canadiens in the 1967–68 season, but spent most of the year with Montreal's Central Hockey League affiliate, the Houston Apollos. After spending almost the entire 1968–69 season in the American Hockey League with the Cleveland Barons, Monahan was traded to the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

in June 1969 in the deal where the Canadiens acquired Pete Mahovlich. Monahan saw little ice time and struggled offensively and before the end of the season was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, where the story was the same. In 72 games with the Red Wings and Kings, Monahan scored just three goals and 10 points.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Before the next season, Monahan was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the trade where the Kings acquired their future captain and coach, Bob Pulford. Monahan saw much more ice time in Toronto as a defensive forward, playing four full seasons with the Leafs. After the first game of the 1974–75 season, he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks and played there for four years, scoring his NHL career high of 18 goals and 44 points in the 1976–77 season. After his offensive numbers dropped off in his final year in Vancouver, Monahan rejoined the Leafs for the 1978–79 season, scoring just four goals in 62 games. That ended his career in the NHL, where he played 748 games over 12 seasons. Monahan then went to Japan and played three seasons with Tokyo-based Seibu Tetsudo of the Japan Ice Hockey League, retiring after the 1981–82 season at age 35. Afterward, he spent several years working on Vancouver Canucks radio broadcasts.

Career statistics

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Monahan, Garry 1946 births Living people Canadian ice hockey centres Detroit Red Wings players Houston Apollos players Los Angeles Kings players Montreal Canadiens draft picks Montreal Canadiens players National Hockey League broadcasters National Hockey League first-overall draft picks National Hockey League first-round draft picks Peterborough Petes (ice hockey) players Toronto Maple Leafs players Vancouver Canucks announcers Vancouver Canucks players Ice hockey people from Ontario Sportspeople from Barrie